UCF @ Rice Owls: Post-game Review

Matt’s wrap-up:

I’d like to give a preface with this review. I was not able to see the game in its entirety. I missed a minute or two at times because channelsurfing.net had to buffer and the game froze up. I would venture to say I did see around 80% of the game though.

The first half of this game was ugly, very ugly. The second half had the potential to go the same way, but thankfully Rice just couldn’t hit a shot to save their lives with ten minutes to go in the game. Time after time Rice came up with decent shots, only for them to rim out. I think we got somewhat lucky that this game wasn’t closer. Something I noticed on Rice during this time period: Their only points outside of the 6 free throws they hit was a single layup by Trey Stanton. Turnovers were a big problem with us at the beginning of the game. We had 9 giveaways up until Tony’s 3, at which point we started protecting the ball better. (We had no more for the rest of the game.)

Jermaine Taylor led the team in scoring yet again, but not by much. Tony Davis had a great game and ended with a double-double, with 12 rebounds and 17 points while playing through what looked to be a busted eyebrow. Davis also broke the game wide open with his 3 pointer with 14 minutes left in the game. Until then the game had been a very close matchup, yet after this we pulled away with an 11-0 run. Tony is turning into a gamebreaker and I’m loving it. Zondervan also had a very solid game, scoring 12 points. Our big men have been stepping it up this year when we need them more than ever. They’re making layups, and taking fouls. All we need from them is solid execution, and they’ve been great about that. Jermaine only logged 23 minutes in this game, which is interesting. Thankfully some of the guys off the bench got some playing time including Jean-Michel Yotio, Will Weathers (who showed some nifty ball handling skills when he got the chance), and PJ Gaynor.

Vin's thoughts:

1. I’m running out of colloquialism’s to use with Tony Davis during these post-game recaps, so I’m just going to recycle the old ones. TONY DAVIS, BABY! Tony Davis started to take control late in the first half, and never lost his touch in the second half. He finished with a double-double, 17 points, and 12 rebounds. He has really hit his stride, and when Tony is playing this well, you just have the confidence that we can win every game. Keep it up, TD!

2. Jermaine Taylor had another stellar performance, finishing up with 20 points and 4 boards in just 23 minutes, him and TD are becoming an insane duo.

3. Any time Kenny Z finishes with double digit points, he deserves a mention here. He finished the game with 12 points, helping maintain his team leading 63% shooting average. All the Z haters can shut up for another week now.

4. AJ Rompza had another solid game as well, earning himself 3 steals, 6 assists, and 7 points. Shorty even had 2 rebounds. Quality stuff, I love watching him improve each week. Oh yea, only 1 turnover for Rompza; when he keeps the TOs down, he gives us that much more of a chance to win.

5. Nice to see Sosa, Baez, and Tyler get some quality minutes off the bench. The trio combined for 15 points. Would be nice to see Will Weathers get some more playing time/experience. He always looks like a great ball handler when he is on the court. Hopefully he keeps working hard.

In the end, this was a big win for the Knights, it wasn’t always pretty, the defense wasn’t perfect either, but it was a huge conference win. Hopefully the fans see this score and remember to pack the dungeon this Wednesday.